Despite the fact that China’s leather exports rose 17.4% in the first half of 2005, to reach $9.63 billion, a brand monitoring centre in Beijing has expressed concerns over the domestic market as it seems that Chinese consumers still prefer foreign brands.

In a recent survey carried out in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqin, Shenzhen and another 10 cities to find China’s favourite shoe brand”, 76.2% of the 1,856 people interviewed said that they prefer foreign brands and only 9.5% said they would choose a domestic brand over a foreign one.

Mr. Zhao Chang Biao, a brand strategy expert who headed up the survey, said that the country’s brand construction was still very weak and that China’s shoe manufacturers should focus more on the domestic market in order to increase the appeal of Chinese brands to local consumers.